SPACE MOUNTAIN

( 1 ) It’s not the fastest. It’s not the highest. It doesn’t have any loop-the-loops. It may not have anything that today’s rollercoasters do. But, many people still think Space Mountain in San Francisco is one of the best rollercoasters in the world.

( 2 ) The ride is based on the book From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne. It was built in 1974. The ride goes as fast as 45 kilometres an hour and you are completely in the dark all the way through. And it’s huge! It is inside a 55 metre tall ‘mountain’ and it covers 6,567 square metres of space.

( 3 ) Space Mountain is the only rollercoaster in the world that is entirely in the dark. Before you can get on it, you must pass through a space passport control and then a decontamination centre where microbe killing lasers zap you all over. These things make the riders feel like they’re on a real space ride. Next, you get on one of the single-seat ‘rockets’ that hold 6 people each. You then move to the ‘take-off’ area, where a large digital clock and a robot voice count down the numbers from ten to one: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – blast off! Your rocket goes shooting into the dark. It goes up and down and around corners, and you can see comets, planets and stars flying past you. You feel like you are really travelling through space.

( 4 ) Space Mountain is an incredible, heart-stopping experience. But passengers be warned: every day, false teeth, eyeglasses, wigs and wallets are found at the bottom of the track, lost by riders.